Joint filling machine for bitumen filler



June 6, 1939. A. E STEWART JOINT FILLING MACHlNE FOR BITUMEN FILLERFiled Nov. 25, 1937 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented June 6, 1939 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE JOINT FILLING MACHINE FOR BITUMEN rnmnn 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine for filling with bitumen the jointsin concrete or similar pavements and for marking a trafiic line.

The general purpose of my present invention is to provide a machine ofthe sort indicated which is of new and improved construction, simple andeconomical to make and to keep in repair, and which can be easily andefl'iciently operated under various road conditions and which is of suchconstruction and combination of its parts that the machine is easily andaccurately steered and controlled to keep the supply of bitumen directedto the joint in the proper variable amount and to the uniform widthrequired and with regularity and neatness.

A further purpose is to provide a machine of the character indicatedwherein rubber composition shoes or guards to limit the ribbon ofbitumen are so placed, supported and resiliently pressed towards thepavement as to make close contact therewith without vibration and with aminimum of friction and wear and so that the ribbon of bitumen fillingwill not have to be retouched by hand work. 7

A further purpose is to provide a machine of the character described ofthe type which is towed by outside power as by a truck travelling aheadof this machine and of a sort where the machine is provided with hotbitumen through a flexible tube extending forward conveniently to aheating tank containing the supply of bitumen filling. With the machinebeing so towed and supplied with the hot bitumen from a source of supplynot upon the machine itself, I am enabled to make the machine relativelysmall and 7 light in weight and very low down or close to the pavementand with every facility for ac-' curately and easily applying thebitumen to the joint in the pavement. Particularly the machine isconstructed so that the operator riding upon a machine has a clear andunobstructed view of the joint for some distance ahead of the nozzle andimmediately at the nozzle so that he can both keep the nozzle over thejoint and regulate the supply of filling according to the size of thejoint to be filled. The steering wheels of the carriage are very closeto the transverse line of the nozzle towards the front of the machine sothat the nozzle which is relatively fixed upon the car-,

riage can be at all times kept directly over the joint.

A still further purpose is to provide a machine of this type which has.combined therewith particularly efiective and convenient guards orshoes for properly locating the bitumen filler and for preventing thewind from diverting or disturbing the poured stream of liquid bitumen.

Further purposes and advantages of the invention will appear from thespecification and. claims herein.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a machine embodying this invention. I

Fig. 2' is a vertical longitudinal sectional view substantially alongthe center line of the machine but showing parts at or near the centerin side elevation.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on line 33 when the two strips ofpavement are on different levels.

Fig. 4 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of the two guards or shoes 35and the adjacent ends of their supports and the lower part of the nozzleequipped with a brush for adapting the machine to make a wider markingribbon of bitumen.

Fig. 5 is a vertical elevation on line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing in a more particular description, it will beseen that the machine in question comprises a wheeled carriage II], anozzle H mounted thereon connected through a valve [2 to a flexible hosel3 which is of a character and length to be connected to a tank ofheated bitumen carried conveniently slightly in advance of this machineas upon an automobile, which automobile also provides the power fortowing the joint filling machine.

The wheeled carriage l may conveniently include two spacedlongitudinally extending side members M such as lengths of angle iron ofproper size and strength and several cross boards secured about midwaythe length of the carriage to the horizontal webs of the angle iron sidemembers l4 and forming the platform of the carriage. To this platform issecured the lower end of a slightly resilient seat support i6 which atits upper end carries the seatvll for the use of the operator of themachine.

Near its rear end a transversely extending rear axle l8 suitably mountedupon the side members l4 carries at its projecting opposite endsrelatively small wheels l9 preferably equipped with pneumatic tires 20'.At its forward end the carriage is provided with a pair of steeringwheels 2| respectively mounted upon outwardly extending spindles 22 eachone of which is one arm of a bell crank pivoted as at 23 upon theopposite side members M. The other arm 22 of each bell crank extendsrearwardly for a short distance and is there pivotally connected to theconnecting rod 24. One of these rearwardly extending arms, say the righthand arm is extended rearwardly as a steering lever 25 the rear end ofwhich is brought to the proper height and close enough to the operatorseated upon the carriage for the said operator to easily and accuratelysteer the machine by swinging said steering arm to the right or left asrequired to keep the nozzle ll directly over the joint in the pavement.

At the front of the carriage there is provided a strong U-shaped yoke 26having the rear end of each arm rigidly connected to one of the oppositeside members 14 at the front thereof. The central portion of this yokeis raised somewhat above the level of the frame of the carriage and isalso conveniently slightly in advance of the front end of the sidemembers and provides at the center line of the carriage a support 21 inwhich is securely but preferably adjustably mounted the upper end of thenozzle H as by clamp 21. This nozzle as best appears in Fig. 2 extendssharply downwardly and slopes slightly to the rear and its lower oroutlet end is slightly above the level of the pavement, the joint ofwhich is to be filled by the bitumen filling flowing from said nozzle.Fromthe middle of the yoke 26 below the nozzle support 21 there may beprovided a tow eye 28 for the attachment of the rear end of the tow ropeor line going forward to the truck which is to tow this machine. It willbe understood that once the nozzle II is set to the proper position inthe machine as to height above the road and angle thereto, it will notneed to be adjusted while the machine is in operation. On the other handthe supply of bitumen filling fed through the nozzle H may need to beconstantly varied according to the width of the joint between the slabsof concrete or other parts of the pavement being treated and accordingalso to the depth of the opening in the joint and according somewhat tothe extent to which the bitumen filling is to rise above the top levelof the pavement or crown over the joint and also of course to the widthof the ribbon of bitumen filling that the machine is set to provide.

The movable member 29 of the valve I2 is conveniently and preferably asimple plunger longitudinally movable through a passage 30 which is atright angles to the bore 3| of the valve so that longitudinal movementof the movable part 29 in an obvious manner directly opens or closes thesaid valve quickly and positively. To the outer end of the valve member29 there is pivotally connected the forward end of a long connecting rod32 the rear end of which is in turn pivotally connected to the valvelever 33. This valve lever has its lower end pivotally supported insuitable bracket 34 provided on the front cross board I5 and said leverprojects upwardly above its connection to the rod 32 to a properdistance to have its upper end readily reached and moved backward andforward by the operator who is seated upon the carriage of the machine.

Adjacent the lower part of the nozzle ll there are provided andresiliently mounted relative to the carriage of the machine twooppositely placed spaced shoes or guards 35. As best appears in Fig. 1each of these guards is concave on its inner face that is, its facetowards the nozzle so that both the forward end and the rear end of eachshoe is considerably closer to the center line of the machine than isthe central part of that shoe. I have found that the most efficientmaterial for .particular machine.

the shoe is a rubber composition, that is, a rubber with fiber or fabricreinforcement such as is provided by slitting the shoe of an ordinaryautomobile tire to provide pieces of the shape and relative size asshown in Figs. 1 and 2, the wire reinforced portions of said automobileshoes being first eliminated. A length of fabric or fiber reinforcedrubber belting of sufilcient thickness is another possible form of shoefor the ma chine. Ultimately specially built fiber reinforced or rubbercomposition shoes may be specially provided of the size and characterrequired for this The rubber composition herein suggested has sufficientstrength and durability to stand the wear of being pushed withsufiicient tension against the upper surface of the pavement over whichthe machine is being drawn. The right hand shoe 35 is removably securedas by bolts and nuts 36 to the left hand or inner side of the verticallyarranged forward end 31 of the right hand shoe support 38. Pref: erablythe body of this shoe support is a strip of resilient metal ofsufficient strength and resilience to hold the lower end of its shoe 35down against the top surface of the pavement. Preferably the forward endof this strip of metal is bent to be vertically arranged and curvedconcave at its inner side to receive the curving shoe 35 but immediatelyto the rear of this vertical portion the shoe sup-port 38 has the widthof its metal extending horizontally or crosswise of the machine so as toutilize the resilience of the metal. A convenient way of mounting thisshoe support is to have its extreme rearward end permanently fastened asby rivets or bolts 39 to the rearward underside of a heavy sheet metalcross piece 49 rigidly attached at its opposite ends to the lowersurface of the horizontal webs of the angle iron side members I4 of thecarriage. Forward of the front bolt 39 the right hand support 38 isengaged by the lower end of a bolt 4| the shank of which isscrew-threaded perpendicularly in said metal cross member 40 with thehead of said bolt thereabove so as to be readily reachable with a wrenchor other tool. By screwing this bolt 4! downwardly it will be obviousthat the forward end of this spring arm 38 is forced downwardly withgreater tension against the pavement. The left hand shoe 35 is similarlymounted upon its own separate left hand shoe support 42 which is ofresilient metal similar to support 38 and which is similarly mountedupon the cross member 40 and similarly tensioned by its own separateadjusting bolt 43.

In an obvious manner also these adjusting bolts 1 4| and 43 may be usedto take up and to a certain extent extend the wear upon the bottom ofthe shoes 35. I have found by careful experiments and actual experiencethat these rubber composition shoes or guards 35 when carried near thefront end of the machine and at the front end of forwardly extendingspring arms will not vibrate or jump up and down relative to thepavement but will follow along closely scraping the pavement withsufficient tension :1"

though one slab at one side or the joint is considerably above the otherand so moves the steering wheel at that side of the jointproportionately upward. The length and resiliencyv of the shoe carryingarms 38 and 42 is suflicient to give the required independent action foreach shoe. It will also be understood that the rubber composition of theshoes also helps'in keeping the shoes regularly against the pavement inthat the front end of the shoes can slightly bend or buckle when theycome to a transverse inequality in the pavement, but that the shoes willnot be per- ,manently distorted and will not spring above such localobstacle enough to make the ribbon of bitumen irregular in width.

It. will be noted further that the steering wheels are very close to thetransverse line where the nozzle ll directs the supply of bitumen sothat the operator of the machine by relatively slight movement of thesteering lever is at all times able to keep the nozzle right over thejoint being treated. It will be further seen from inspecting the drawingthat an operator upon the seat ll of the carriage will have a clear viewlooking downwardly and forwardly to the opening of the joint ahead ofthe nozzle and particularly to the joint just at the rear of the nozzleto which the hot bitumen has just been supplied so that the operator canbe thus guided as to steering the machine and also as to the amount ofliquid bitumen to be supplied at any particular length of the joint. Itwill be seen that the whole machine is purposely designed so that theoperator can keep his eye upon the pouring point, that is the outlet ofthe nozzle and with one hand steer the machine as needed and with theother hand can instantly and constantly control the supply of bitumencoming through the valve ill to the nozzle. In this machine it will beparticularly noticed that the operator does not have the tiring work ofwheeling the machine itself along the pavement and up hill and downgrades. Nor does the operator of this machine have to attend to anymechanism as to the main supply of bitumen nor the heating thereof. Theonly other mechanical device on this machine is a brake 4.4 applied to adrum upon one of the rear wheels and controlled by a member 45 goingforward to a brake lever 55 having a pedal 67 at its forward end withinconvenient reach of one foot of the operator of the machine.

After considerable experiments I have found that the flexible hose l3bringing the hot bitumen to the nozzle needs to be of the spirally woundmetal type rather than ordinary rubber or rubber lined hose because thehot bitumen tends to quickly deteriorate the rubber of the rubber hoseand dislodge portions of such rubber hose and carry it into the valve ofthe machine where it blocks the supply of bitumen and results indisastrous delay and waste of time in the use of the machine.

It will be understood that the shoes 35 are readily removable from theirsupporting bars and that new or other shoes may be quickly attached tosaid supports. On account of the hard service the shoes have to standthe shoes wear out or wear down too much to be used after the set hasbeen used for one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles of pavement. Inpractice I have found that this machine can be drawn and work entirelysatisfactory at the rate of about three to four miles an hour.

This machine as ordinarily used leaves a ribbon of bitumen centeredalong the longitudinal joint of a pavement which ribbon being blackforms a convenient marker indicating the center line of a two trackhighway. If it is desired this black ribbon can purposely be made moreprominent by making it wider than is necessary simply for a jointfiller. Figs. 4 and 5 are two views showing one form of a modificationadapting this machine to make such a wider ribbon of bitumen. Asufficiently flexible brush 48 is mounted to therear of the nozzle ll asby the handle 49 of the brush being removably and adjustably securedv asby clamp 5% and conventional bolts and nuts to the nozzle ii. Usuallywhen the machine is being operated to make a prominent marking ribbon,the guards 35 will be set a little farther apart than they are placedfor only filling the joint so that the bitumen whenspread out by thebrush, which may be say two and one-half inches in width, will reach theadjacent portion of the guards on each side to cover the pavement for,say, a four inch ribbon. Some of the bitumen will flow out beyond theedges of the brush and some of this will be pushed back towards thecenter by the rear inwardly slanting ends of the opposite guards but thepavement once reached by the bitumen will remain black.

What I- claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a joint filling machine for bitumen filler, the combination of alow-down wheeled carriage having steering wheels near its forward endmanually controlled relative to the carriage by an operator on thecarriage, a nozzle rigidly mounted near the forward end of the carriageand adapted to direct a bitumen filler downwardly upon a joint in thepavement below the carriage, connections including a manually controlledvalve leading from the nozzle to a source of supply of bitumen, meansoperable by a person on the carriage to regulate said. valve,fabric-reinforced, elastic composition shoe-guards of the stiffness anddurability of the shoe or casing of automobile tires, spaced apart thedesired Width of the strip of bitumen filler and on the opposite sidesof the nozzle outlet and allowing the strip of filler over the joint andfor some distance laterally thereof to pass rearwardly between theopening at the rear ends of said shoe-guards without being engaged bysaid shoes and two separate, resilient horizontally arranged supportsmounted at their rear ends about a third of the way back on saidcarriage and extending forward to the line of said nozzle and therecarrying respectively one of said shoe-guards and resiliently pressingthem strongly enough against the pavement to prevent the filler fromspreading laterally across the pavement beneath said shoes.

2. In a joint filling machine for bitumen filler, the combination of alow-down wheeled carriage having steering wheels near its forward endmanually controlled relative to the carriage by an operator on thecarriage, a nozzle rigidly mounted near the forward end of the carriageand adapted to direct a bitumen filler downwardly upon a joint in thepavement below the carriage, connections including a manually controlledvalve leading from the nozzle to a source of supply of bitumen, meansoperable by a person on the carriage to regulate said valve,fabric-reinof filler over the joint and for some distance laterallythereof to pass rearwardly between the opening at the rear ends of saidshoe-guards without being engaged by sail shoes and two separate,resilient horizontally arranged supports mounted at their rear endsabout a third of the way back on said carriage and extending forward tothe line of said nozzle and there carrying respectively one of saidshoe-guards and re siliently pressing them strongly enough against thepavement to prevent the filler from spreading laterally across thepavement beneath said shoes, said shoe-guards being readily detachablefrom and attachable to their supports, and means on said carriageengaging the rearward parts of said supports for adjusting verticallyand separately their forward ends to compensate for the wearing away ofthe lower edges of said shoes, such adjustment not interfering with theresiliency of said supports.

3. In a joint filling machine for bitumen filler the combination of atowed, low-down fourwheeled carriage having two steering wheels near itsforward end manually controlled relative to the carriage by an operatorriding on the rear part of the carriage, a nozzle rigidly mounted nearthe forward end of the carriage and adapted to direct a bitumen fillerdownwardly on a joint in the pavement below the carriage, connectionsincluding a manually controlled valve leading from the nozzle to asource of supply of bitumen olT of the carriage, means operable by saidperson on the carriage to regulate said valve, fabricreinforced, elasticcomposition shoe-guards of the stiffness and durability of the shoe orcasing of automobile tires, spaced apart the desired width of the stripof bitumen filler and on the opposite sides of the nozzle outlet, andallowing the strip of filler over the joint and for some distancelaterally thereof to pass rearwardly between the opening at the rearends of said shoe-guards without being engaged by said shoes and twoseparate resilient horizontally arranged supports mounted at their rearends about a third of the way beck on said carriage and extendingforwardly to the line of said nozzle and there carrying respectively oneof said shoe-guards and resiliently pressing them strongly enoughagainst the pavement to prevent the filler from spreading laterallybeneath said shoes.

AMASA E. STEWART.

